Eitan Levine, a New York based writer and comedian, moves from legacy delis to newer spots, chasing kishka, perfectly cooked potatoes, and that deep, schmaltzy Jewish umami he calls Jewmami. What unfolds is more than a food review. It is a portrait of Crown Heights itself, where cholent is shared, debated, and held as a living piece of community.
In this video, Levine analyzes and tastes the cholent of five Brooklyn restaurants and gives each cholent a rating.
Enjoy!
It all started with a question posed by a group of Yeshiva students in Israel to a weekly bulletin on Jewish law. They expressed their concern about whether weekday consumption of cholent, the beef stew traditionally eaten on Shabbat, diminishes the sanctity of the day.
Feasting on cholent on Thursday nights has become a popular activity among Yeshiva students in Israel, and also in Yeshiva communities in the United States.
Citing Talmudic, Kabbalistic and later rabbinic sources, Zilberstein wrote that it is “very appropriate not to eat [cholent] on weekdays, so that one can delight in it on Shabbat as is proper.” He went on to note that cholent is not only spiritually designated for Shabbat, but that its heavy ingredients may even pose a health risk when eaten without the merit of the holy day.
The ruling was quickly picked up by haredi news outlets, with some dramatic headlines interpreting the text as a formal prohibition.
The simmering public response about Zilberstein’s ruling was enough to provoke a partial retraction. His grandson, Rabbi Chaim Malin, emphasized that the original response was not meant to impose a universal ban, but was rather intended as a recommendation for those seeking to elevate the uniqueness of Shabbat.
The statement noted that cholent served at mitzvah meals — weddings, bar mitzvahs and other religious celebrations — is fully permitted, as is the Thursday-night practice of serving it in yeshivas, with the rabbi clarifying that students should follow the guidance of their yeshiva leadership. The statement concluded: “Let the humble eat and be satisfied.”
If you want to check out the best cholent spots in Israel, there's a YouTube channel called Cholent and Chill that rates the many restaurants that feature cholent in all of its varieties on Thursday nights.
Enjoy!
As kosher Jews, the cheese burger, or even eating dairy following a burger, have always been off limits. That is, until Tuesday, May 22, when Impossible Foods partnered with the OU to certify their Impossible Burgers as OU Kosher’s newest kosher products.
The Impossible Foods Company differentiates itself from other vegetarian companies by making especially authentic tasting meat, cheese and fish that can fool even the sharpest tongues.
The Impossible Burger, their first kosher product, is made using wheat, coconut oil, potatoes, and special ingredient, Heme, a molecule that gives the burger its meaty taste. Heme contains iron and can be found in every single plant and animal. The Heme molecule in plant based Heme is identical to the Heme molecule found in meat. That’s what allows for the richness of the Impossible Burger.
What chefs say differentiates the Impossible Burger from other veggie burgers is simple: the Impossible Burger really does bleed like a meat-based burger.
“Getting Kosher certification is an important milestone,” said Impossible Foods CEO and Founder Dr. Patrick O. Brown. “We want the Impossible Burger to be ubiquitous, and that means it must be affordable and accessible to everyone–including people who have food restrictions for religious reasons.”
With this meat free technology, kosher Jews can finally enjoy a burger with whatever toppings they want, including cheese!It sounds great, but where can you find it? It's not yet available in supermarkets -- only in select (so far not kosher) restaurants. According to Dani Klein, creator of the YeahThat'sKosher website, the only kosher restaurant that carries the product is Shilo's in Los Angeles.
The downside?
Shiloh’s is a meat restaurant.
Much of the excitement for the Impossible Burger was to mimic the taste and texture of real meat and add real cheese for a near-authentic cheeseburger. Shiloh’s can’t offer that unfortunately.
Numerous kosher restaurants around the country are testing the Impossible Burger in their restaurants, and YeahThatsKosher will be updated as more kosher places add this hot new item to the menu.A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS: THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS. YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.
Unorthodox Wines from South Africa, Cheesecake cones, Kosher sake, Asian meals in a box, Seaweed chips, Pareve chocolate spreads, Matzo S'mores, Matzo Pizza, Smart Fruit juices, and Kosher Korean Kimchi.
Dan Skinner, a public relations manager for Hebrew National, told JTA he doesn’t see any problem with the videos, which were produced in partnership with Tasting Table, which produces content for food companies and runs a culinary website.The article cites a survey that shows that only 14 percent of consumers polled in that survey said they seek out kosher for religious reasons.
“Our hot dogs follow very strict kosher standards in terms of the preparation of the hot dogs themselves, and keeping that kosher process is very important to us,” Skinner said. “But our consumers eat the hot dogs for a number of reasons. Some stick to our hot dogs for kosher reasons, and some eat our hot dogs for reasons of taste and preference. For those consumers we have presented recipe options that are not necessarily kosher recipes in the strictest sense.
Rabbi Menachem Genack, CEO of the kosher division of the Orthodox Union,
told JTA that
in general there is no inherent problem with companies advertising the
use of their kosher products in non-kosher recipes — but there are some
exceptions.“It depends on the context,” Genack said. “A kosher product that’s sold to the general population, if it’s not confusing in any way, that would be OK. If it’s a company that’s selling kosher meat and there’s a real potential for confusion, that would be a problem.”Granting of O.U. certification is not dependent only on the food, Genack said.
The O.U., the largest kosher certifier in the country, does not offer certification to restaurants or caterers that violate the Jewish Sabbath, and it would not certify an establishment whose ambiance does not comport with Orthodox values, such as a strip club, even if the food were strictly kosher. He also noted that the O.U.’s contract with food companies includes a clause that places limits on advertising that might damage the O.U. brand.
“Kosher supervision does not only relate to the kosher food; it’s also the ambiance,” Genack told JTA. “A lot of these things are judgment calls.”But judgments can be subjective. It didn't take long for us to find a couple of products certified by the O.U. that could give the wrong impression that ham and pork are kosher because Mrs. Schlorer's Ham Glaze and Sauer's Pork Rub are shown with the OU on their labels and described as exclusively seasoning those treif meats.
The brave tasters all marveled over Elite's milk chocolate bar with popping candies, bewildered by the chocolate treat's tendency to "crackle in your mouth!"; One reviewer was reminiscent of Harry Potter eating the treat, saying "Fred and George Weasley would totally think of something like this."Enjoy!
Bamba was received with some hesitation, as some were disappointed to be greeted with a peanut-buttery flavor as opposed to the cheesey cheetoh flavor they expected, a result of the two snack's similar appearance.
Bissli got rave reviews despite it's unappealing shape which reminded one man of, "some sort of rodent poo."
Crembo got compared to Pokemon's Diglett character, and, more realistically, to a Malomar, another variation of a chocolate covered marshmallow treat popular in America.
Posts
All Comments
